IMG takes poll position in Production 100

It’s the fourth year in a row that IMG, which covers sports including Wimbledon tennis and Premier League Football, has led the Production 100 rankings.

The stand out trend of this year’s survey is the rise of drama producers, who have taken advantage of the incredible growth in demand for scripted TV.

Six of the top ten companies in the Production 100 are drama indies; two of them, Carnival and Left Bank, posted turnovers in excess of £100m each.

The other noticeable trend is the launch of a swathe of new indies, many of them backed by superindie groups.

With fewer acquisition targets left after so much industry consolidation, the big groups are choosing to seed lots of ambitious new start-ups rather than invest heavily in existing production companies. Little wonder, therefore, that many indies say the climate is more competitive than ever.